The Squier Bullet Strat is, for all intents and purposes, a beginner guitar. However, despite being the bottom of the range, below even the Affinity Series, many guitarists have taken a liking to the model.
And it’s not surprising – At under £200, you get a good amount of guitar for the cash. At this price point though, naturally, corners are cut and cheaper materials and components are therefore favoured. Undeterred, many owners simply strip the guitar of the original electronics and hardware, to then replace with better quality parts.
“Fender Squier built the Bullet Stratocaster with beginners in mind. Hence, this is an affordable, versatile, light, simple, and stylish instrument.” – Beginner Guitar HQ
The machine heads are the obvious place to start, as they are usually the easiest to replace. However, there’s a small amount of confusion as to what exactly replaces the Bullet Strat’s tuners with the need for any modifications. Below, we’ll run through the various models over the years and the best machine heads for them. (I’ll cover other parts in a later blog)
2021’s Squier Bullet Strat
The current line-up of Bullet Strats comprises of 4 models; the Stratocaster (SSS), HSS, HT HSS* (Hardtail bridge with the same pickup configuration), and a HT (hardtail with SSS pickup configuration). Each guitar comes fitted with a modern-style, 2-pin mounted set of machine heads. This type is an exact copy of the Schaller M6 Pin-fit system and should not be confused with the Fender 2-pin configuration.
Interestingly, the Bullet Telecaster uses the exam same tuners whereas the Mustang has tuners with the 135 degree screw position.
Outgoing Model
The model before the current range have the trapezoid style tuners. Not an exact copy of the F-70’s style – the screw position is the opposite.
More info to follow.
* Note: “H” and “S” refer to Humbucker and Single-coil respectively.
